Dani and the Doctor
by Fireflysayshi
Summary: The Eleventh Doctor meets Dani McCrae,a young girl whose life isn't quite that spectacular. She's a rebel, a high-school dropout, and she believes there isn't anything left that can impress her. That is, of course, until the Doctor shows her everything.
1. Chapter 1

"That'll be five quid love," the man behind the register mused, as he placed a pack of cigarettes on the counter.

A girl with wild brown curls handed the man some money and shoved the pack of cigarettes deep in the pocket of her leather jacket.

"Thanks," she breathed. The girl turned around and quickly left the store.

A cold breeze greeted her as she stepped outside. She pulled up the collar of her jacket and then grabbed the pack of cigarettes out of her pocket. Taking one out, she turned to face the entrance of the shop, as she tried to light it.

"Oh for god's sake!" she hissed, as her attempt to shield the cigarette from the freezing wind failed. A second attempt proved to be more successful.

Dani McCrae was an ordinary girl on her way to nowhere in particular. With the cigarette between her lips, she walked down the street. She passed a few half-empty stores. Dani used to come here often with her mum. They'd browse each and every one of these stores. Clothes shopping, she used to love it.

Gazing through the window of one of the shops, Dani couldn't help but get an eerie sensation at the sight of the seemingly neglected display. There was a half-dressed mannequin, a pile of folded jeans and blouses next to it. And for some reason, a single leather glove, and that was it. Dani took a step backwards, shaking her head at the sight.

"The hell is up with that?" she breathed, taking the cigarette out of her mouth.

"I know! I had hoped to find a decent hat, but I don't think they'll be selling anything cool here," a voice mused from behind her.

Dani gasped for air, heart thundering in her chest as she looked up. She gazed up at the reflection in the shop's window and saw that there was someone standing behind her. A tall man with brown, slightly messy, hair. He was wearing a long coat and a bow tie. His arms were folded and he now seemed to be looking at Dani, expecting some kind of response.

"You wouldn't happen to know where I can find something cool, would you?" he asked.  
>Dani turned around and faced the stranger. She brought the cigarette to her lips again, and frowned.<p>

"Who are you?" she said. The lack of hesitation in her voice seemed to surprise the stranger. Yet the surprise on his face quickly converted into a playful grin.

"Let's just say I'm someone that's in need of something cool and new," he mused, as he took a step closer towards the girl. He gazed over her shoulder into the store and hummed. "Something's off," he breathed.

"What are you talking about?" Dani exclaimed, taking a step backwards. "Who are you?"

The stranger looked down at Dani and smiled politely.

"I'm the Doctor," he said.

"Whatever," Dani groaned. She turned and started walking away from the stranger with the bow tie. She wasn't going to let herself get all worked up over some empty stores and a strange guy that had now pressed his nose against the glass, still examining the store's display.

"I'm pretty positive something's off!" the man shouted, tapping his fingers on the glass. He turned his head and threw a glance at the girl. "Don't worry though, I'll figure it out!" he continued, raising his voice so that Dani would still be able to hear him.

Dani slowed down her pace and frowned. What was he yelling about? She didn't quite understand, but again felt no urge to turn back around and ask the stranger what the bloody hell was up with him and the empty stores. The sound of shattering glass suddenly filled the air. Dani gasped for air as she turned around almost instantly. The man who had called himself the Doctor, was lying on the pavement, surrounded by the shattered glass of the shop's window he had been gazing into.

The man let out a groan and pushed himself upright. He brushed fragments of glass off his coat and frowned as he looked up at the store.

"Okay, exploding shop windows," he breathed.

"Are you alright?" Dani asked, as she carefully walked back towards the stranger, who had now gotten back to his feet. The girl with the wild hair came to a halt before the windowless shop and looked at the man with a worried expression on her face.

"I'm fine, I'm fine! I just need t-", rather than finishing his sentence, the man suddenly rushed inside the store.

Dani let out a gasp of air as she saw the man flung himself at the half-dressed mannequin. A loud sound echoed through the building as both the man and the mannequin fell to the floor. Dani took a step backwards and gazed at the store in terror. The man had gone out of sight.

"What the hell are you doing?" she exclaimed.

After a short silence, the man jumped back up, swinging the mannequin's arm victoriously in the air. He stepped out on the pavement again and turned to face Dani, whose gaze was still reading shock.

"Don't worry, false alarm!" the man mused.

"Why'd you do that?" Dani exclaimed.

"Well I'm sure there's a reasonable explanation that you would understand, and it would all make perfect sense,"

"And?" Dani demanded, folding her arms.

"Yeah I might be wrong about that," the man mused, scratching his head with the plastic limb. He turned around and gazed down the street. "Is it always this quiet?"

"Hardly anyone comes here anymore, not since the big shopping center opened, two blocks from here," Dani explained. "But why'd you jump the doll? It doesn't make sense,"

"Ah, shopping centers. Love a good shopping center! From the outside, it hardly ever looks like there's much to it, but for some reason it always seems bigger on the inside," the stranger mused. As he noticed the unsatisfied expression on the girl's face he frowned. "Ah yes, the doll," he breathed, throwing a glance at the plastic arm. "Old friend of mine,"

"That makes even less sense!" Dani groaned.

"Okay. Dolls, bad. Dolls tried to kill people. I stopped them. This doll however, just an unfortunate look-a-like," the man explained, using the plastic limb to gesture with. Dani opened her mouth to protest, but the man gently covered the girl's mouth with the plastic hand. "It's true, now hush, we still haven't figured out how the glass of this window went -boom- , by its self."

"We?" Dani breathed, pushing away the plastic arm.

"Yeah, you, me and mister plastic here," the stranger explained, a wide grin on his face.

Dani shook her head. This was too much crazy for her to cope with. Exploding windows, bow-tie-wearing men and killer mannequins? All of a sudden Dani began to question whether what she had bought at the store had really been just a pack of cigarettes. She tossed the cigarette away, and looked at the man.

"Look, I'm not interested in your kind of crazy. I'll be on my way," she said. Yet before she could turn around, something knocked her off her feet. Letting out a pained groan, Dani slammed against the pavement. The stranger quickly hurried to her side and helped her to her feet.

"Are you alright?" he asked, keeping one arm firmly wrapped around the girl's shoulder, making sure she wouldn't fall over until she regained her balance.

"I'm fine," Dani breathed, squinting her eyes as a stinging sensation shot down her spine. "What the hell was that?"

"Something invisible,"

"Not a doll then?"

The man smiled. "No, this is a different kind of crazy," he mused.

"What was your name again?" Dani muttered, rubbing her head.

"I'm the Doctor,"

"Just-"

"Just the Doctor yes,"


	2. Chapter 2

Dani followed the Doctor as he kept up a fast pace, walking down the street. She had a hard time keeping up with the strange man, who stopped every once in a while to check the buzzing, light emitting device in his hands. Dani couldn't quite figure out what it was, but she was hesitant to ask him as he seemed to be in a hurry.

"Look, there's something invisible and history tells us that is usually bad news," the Doctor explained, slowing down his pace as he noticed the girl with the leather jacket had fallen behind.

"What history?" Dani asked, once she'd reached him.

"Ah, yes, right! Nevermind!" the Doctor said, poking at his hair with the device in his hands. "I don't like invisible things. They are so... invisible!" he groaned.

Dani let out a sigh. "Obviously" she whispered under her breath. The Doctor turned to face the girl and looked her right in the eyes.

"Am I boring you?" he asked. Dani didn't quite follow where this had suddenly come from, but the expression on the Doctor's face was quite serious.

"No, why-"

"You haven't even asked me what I'm holding in my hands. Usually people ask," the Doctor stated, waving the device in front of her. Dani rolled her eyes.

"What is it then?" she asked.

"Ah, glad you asked! It's a Sonic Screwdriver, I use it to … uhm, sonic things," the Doctor said, quite proudly.

"Does it screw stuff too?" Dani blurted, a giggle escaped her lips. The Doctor's expression turned into a frown.

"No! Why would you even ask that?" the Doctor said.

"Because you just said it's a screwdriver!" Dani retorted. She folded her arms and gazed at the strange man and his Sonic Screwdriver.

"Of course it's not an actual screwdriver," the Doctor admitted. He shoved the Sonic back into his pocket and continued walking. "It couldn't have gotten very far, unless of course it has the ability to teleport. Let's not go with that theory for now," he mused.

Dani quickly followed. She brushed a hand through her hair and glanced over her shoulder. Why had she even decided to come with this stranger? Perhaps because of the lack of purpose in her life? Or the lack of adventure?

"So what are you going to do?" Dani mused, trying to figure out where the Doctor was headed. They took a turn to the left, and passed through an alleyway that lead to yet another seemingly abandoned street.

"Is everyone here taking a holiday or something?" the Doctor let out, coming to a halt. He took his Sonic Screwdriver out again and examined it. "Odd,"

"I don't know what you know about this place, but it's been like this for years," Dani breathed. "And what's so odd?"

"It doesn't read anything out of the ordinary," the Doctor stated, puzzled.

"So maybe teleporting, yes?" Dani mused.

The Doctor shook his head and pushed the Sonic back into his pocket. He gazed down at at his feet and let out a sigh. "No, I don't like that theory!" he said. "There must be something else, something I'm missing!"

"People can't turn invisble, right?" Dani stammered. "I mean, maybe it was just the wind that knocked me over-"

"And smashed the glass? Surely. But who's to say it was a person?" the Doctor interrupted her. He looked back up and began pacing back and forth. "It's not a Krafayis, it only knocked you over, it didn't kill you. Assuming there's no other casualties, we can rule out Krafayis!"

"The hell is a Krafayis?" Dani exclaimed.

"Big bird. Bad bird. Big, bad bird. You don't mess with those!" the Doctor explained. A cold shiver ran down his spine as a memory, of an earlier encounter with this particular alien species, flashed before his eyes.

"Right, you are making less sense by the minute. Tell me why I'm here again?" Dani let out. She wasn't sure whether to look the man in the eye or not, so she fixed her gaze at the Doctor's bow tie.

"You're here because you wanted to come. Because you live here and know your way around town. You're here because I invited you and most of all, because you find me impossibly interesting!"

"Well that's one way to put it," Dani muttered. "So what do we do now?"

The Doctor smiled at Dani and pushed his hands into his pockets.

"Considering that chasing something that we can't see nor can be detected by the sonic, is quite a useless way to spend time, why don't I show you my ride?"

"Your ride?" Dani let out, raising one brow.

"Isn't that what the cool kids say these days?" the Doctor wondered.

"Ehm, no it's not,"

"Then I won't ever say that again," he said, gesturing the girl to follow him. "Come on, I'll show you!"

The Doctor lead them to the end of the street, where they reached a small park. Just on the other side of the street, there was a blue Police Box. It didn't seem to fit with the rest of the enviorment, but no one seemes to really notice it. The Doctor hurried towards the blue box and came to a halt in front of it.

"What's this then?" Dani wondered out loud.

Instead of answering the girl's question, the Doctor merely snapped his fingers, causing the door of the blue box to open. He stepped inside, reckoning the curious girl would follow.

"What are you doing? You can't possibly have me believe that this is your ride? It's a Police Box! Those things are ancient," Dani stated, as she carefully walked up to the Police Box.

The Doctor popped his head back out. He wore a wide grin on his face as he gazed at the brunette.

"A Police Box, you got it right on your first try! Now step inside, and check out my... oh yes, I wasn't going to say that anymore," he mused, as he disappeared back into the box.

Dani let out a sigh and shook her head. She followed the Doctor inside and gasped for air as soon as she took in the interior of the blue box.

"It's..."

"Bigger on the inside? Yes. Almost like a shopping center. But the TARDIS is actually bigger on the inside, whereas the size of a shopping center is just a matter of perception," the Doctor mused as he whirled around the console in the middle of the room.

"But it's..."

"Impossible? Hardly. It's very possible, as you can see with your own eyes!"

"What are you doing?" Dani let out, as she noticed the Doctor was pulling on levers and pressing buttons.

"Could you close that for me?" the Doctor asked, ignoring the girl's question.

Almost instantly, Dani turned around and closed the door. It wasn't until she could hear a wheezing sound emitting from the core of the TARDIS, that she realised what the Doctor was doing.

"Hang on! Where are we going? You didn't even ask me if I wanted to come! And there's an invisble … thing out there. You're just going to leave it there?"

The Doctor was more impressed by the fact that Dani understood the meaning of the TARDIS' wheezing sound, rather than be concerned about her questions and answering them in the right order.

"That thing is long gone. And you said things were normal, so no need for me to swoop in and-"

"And what? Save the day? Is that what you do? Swoop in, save the day and drag a random stranger from the street into your box?" Dani exclaimed.

The Doctor frowned. He pressed a few more buttons and then walked up to Dani. He pressed his hands on her shoulders and looked her in the eye.

"I didn't drag you from the street. There was no dragging involved. I asked you to check out my ri- my TARDIS, and you came in here by your own free will," the Doctor breathed. He let out a sigh before he continued. "If you want to go back, I'll turn around right away."

The Doctor paced back towards the console and turned his head to look at the girl.

"Hang on!" Dani let out. She walked up to the console and leaned against it. She gazed at all the shining lights and strange objects sticking out of the console. "How does this work? What does the TARDIS do?" she asked.

The Doctor smiled. He brushed a hand through his hair and cleared his throat.

"Well, she can take us anywhere we want to go," he stated.

"For real?"

"Very much so,"


End file.
